OLIVET – It's been over nine months since high school football last took place across the state of Michigan.

With the intensity of a Friday night football game, Thursday night's contest featured two former Kalamazoo Valley Association foes battling it out for a chance at a Game 1 win.

Behind Olivet's Chase Martin's three first-half touchdowns, Olivet defeated Pennfield, 27-22. It was a battle of old league rivals, but it was now a non-conference game. However the intensity wasn't any less, even though Olivet is now in the Greater Lansing Athletic Conference and Pennfield is in its first season in the new Interstate Eight.

"We wanted to see who was going to make plays for us," said Eagle coach Gabe Priddy after his team's post-game huddle. "We talked about before the game that we were looking for a man to stand in the gap. …Who was going to be the man to make the play that defends our family? And Chase (Martin) was one of them. … We challenged them before the game, and they rose to the challenge."

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Starting off fast, Olivet drove 60-plus yards – through the air and ground game – for a score that was capped off by Eagle running back Chase Martin on a 17-yard run through the left side. The score came within the contest's first three minutes and set a tone, according to Priddy.

"One of the goals that we had was to beat Pennfield game one," said Priddy. "That was one of the goals our seniors made. We accomplished our first goal of the season."

With two minutes left in the first quarter, Olivet's Martin took another carry from left side, bounced it to the sideline, and scored from 69 yards out to make it a two-score Eagle lead, 14-0. But a fumble recovery by the Panthers with 10:49 left in second quarter gave Pennfield a little momentum.

"My linemen made a lot of good decisions," said Martin, as his team rushed for 12 first downs and 252 yards. "They (the linemen) worked really good and made a lot of holes for me."

The Eagles' Martin, again, moving in-and-out of defenders and scored on 74-yard touchdown – his third before the half – giving Olivet a three-touchdown lead early in the third quarter.

The Panthers' quarterback Branden Rugg hit running back DaWan Smith on a 10-yard curl route that trimmed the lead to 21-8 on the following possession.

"We are disappointed with the final score," said Panther coach Mike McGuire, who is in his first season as head coach. "But what we are happy with is our fight. We said our Pennfield kids will never quit and never back down, and…we battled back (today). We made some critical mistakes at the wrong times, but I give Olivet credit; they came out and did what they needed to do."

Smith and the Panther offense took the first possession of the second half and scored on a half-back dive from three yards out to cut the lead to 21-16. But with 4:46 left in the third, a quarterback sneak by the Eagles' Sam Hoag pushed the game back to a two-score contest, 27-16, and out of the Panther's reach.

Offensively for Olivet, Martin had 267 yards on 18 carries and three touchdowns. Through the air, Hoag was 7-11 for 91 yards. On the defensive side of the ball defensive back Ben Turner had 10 tackles, while linebacker Nate Barnes contributed with nine tackles.

For the Panthers, Smith had 123 yards on 16 carries and two touchdowns, while quarterback Branden Rugg was 7-of-14 for 157 yards and a score. Defensively, defensive back Parker Bowen had an interception.